Peppe the Lamplighter

My heart goes out to Peppe! He is so committed to finding any job to support his family of nine. When he finds a job lighting lamps, his father unkindly makes him feel that this is hardly a job he can be proud of. His wishes as he lights each lamp shows us what a generous and big-hearted person he is. When finally he gets discouraged by his father's words, and stays home one day, Little Italy is in darkness and utter chaos. When he ventures out to light the lamps at his father's request, he finds his lost sister and finally wins praise from his father.
The watercolor illustrations give us a feel of Little Italy in the time when there was no electricity. It takes us back to the people and street life of those ages.
A touching story with a show more relatable theme: how we often strive to seek praise from people who have very high expectations of us and are not satisfied with the approval of others around us. show less

The illustrations are stunning. Peppe has 8 sisters, a sick father, and his mother is dead. He looks for work to help his family and finally finds a job lighting street lamps at night. His father is ashamed that he is working in the streets and slowly drains Peppe's confidence. Then one night he decides not to light the lamps and, alas, his sister doesn't come home. So, his father changes his mind and pep talks him to go keep working.
I think the father character is complicated-would love to hear the opinion of children. Themes of responsibility, family, and dignity in all work.

This was quite a heavy read for a children's picture book. The illustrations by Ted Lewin were unbelievably striking and captured the tone of the story in a way I haven't seen before. Truly remarkable! We follow the story of a young Peppe, who has just recently taken a job as a lamplighter to support his immigrant family in New York City. Peppe takes pride in the work he's doing and feels proud to provide for his family after his mother's passing and now that his father has fallen ill. His Papa doesn't share his prideful sentiment, in fact, he feels as though this job is below Peppe and not what he imaged his son's future aspirations would have become. This is a book that paints a picture of what life must have been like for those turn show more of the century immigrants who journeyed to New York City in search of the American Dream, and unfortunately, that picture isn't always bright. show less

Summary: Peppe is a little boy, an immigrant from Italy. He lives with his father and sisters. His father is sick and can't work, so Peppe must look for a job. He goes everywhere looking for one, but it isn't until a lamplighter comes to him with a job offer. Peppe accepts and excitedly tells his family. But his father is disgusted by this street urchin job. Despite this, Peppe goes about his job and enjoys it. But his father slowly wears him down, and one night Peppe stays home instead of lighting the lamps. That night, his sister Assunta doesn't come home. His father says to go ahead, light the lamps, and find Assunta. Peppe does and finds her huddled by a street lamp, too scared of the dark to move. When he returns home, everyone show more realizes how important his job is especially his father!

Persona Reaction: I really like this book. I love the illustrations and how we learn that one job can be important to a community. The resolution was great. His father finally realized that a job you might not appreciate can mean a lot to others, and even yourself!

Classroom Extensions:
1. Have students think about what their life would e like without electricity. Write a short story about what they would do without electricity.

2. Talk about where Peppe lives. Look at the scenes and discuss what they see. Why do they think the area is called Little Italy? Explain that when immigrants came to New York, there were different areas in where they tended to live. Have students get into groups. Each group should research a different "district" and create a trifold posterboard about their district to present to the class. For extra credit, have them bring some food from their district! show less

This a beautiful story that shows the values Italian immigrants had when they came to America. Peppe’s father wants the best for his children, therefore he does not view his son, who is a lamplighter, as a worthy job. His father even says “Did I come to America for my son to light the street lamps?” One of the other things I liked about this book was the authenticity I felt when reading it. The illustrations aided in this a lot because the artist did an amazing job at making everything appear life like. Each illustrations fills the entire two page spread and depicts what Little Italy in New York looked like in the early 1900’s. In one of the illustrations you can see many people at the street farmers market. These people are show more dressed very nice with men wearing suits and hats and women wearing floor length skirts and dresses with aprons. I could easily tell what time period this book is set in just by looking at the illustrations. Another thing I like about this book is that even though the dialogue does not reflect and Italian accent, the author still included Peppe’s father speaking Italian. In this part of the story, the father says “Dov’ e mia bambina?” which means no matter how big his little sister got, she will still be his baby. This also aided in the authenticity of the book and allowed me to learn some Italian as well! The big idea of this story is that even the littlest things done can make a big difference on everyone. This can be seen when Peppe decides not to light the lamps one night and because of that, his little sister gets too scared to come home and walk in the dark. Although this book is set in the 1900’s, the message of this story can be applied today. For example, many people do not think the lunch ladies in schools have a significant job, however they are the people that prepare and feed your children. Without them, students would not have food for lunch! show less

Peppe the Lamplighter is a story about a boy whose mother has died and his father is sick and can not work. He needs a job to help take care of his sister. After looking long and hard, he finds a job as the lamplighter. At first, his father did not approve of this job until one night Peppe little sister was lost in the dark because Peppe did not light the lamps this night. From this night on, everyone knew just how important the lamplighter job is and Peppe is proud to be the one who does it.

I enjoyed reading this story because I feel that it is important for children to learn responsibility and this story teaches this lesson well. I also think that children today expect everything to be handed to them and this story shows how one show more little boy selflessly gets a job to help support his family.

This book can be used to show children how times were tough for immigrants and jobs were scarce. Also, in hard times, it takes the cooperation of the entire family to make ends meet. Another extension for this book would be for children to look at a map and see where New York is and then find where Italy is and see how far the immigrants had to travel to reach America and some of the hardships they might have faced when traveling. show less

Gorgeously--and realistically–-illustrated; very sentimental. The father's complete about-face in his attitude is not quite believable, but it's a pretty tale. I used it in a unit about how cities grew and changed in the 18th through 19th centuries. Not a big hit with all the children, who I think were mystified by Papa's anger about his son's low-level job--especially since the sisters worked in factories! Might work in a unit on immigration, though I think older children would be even less interested.